Animated figure



3,091,892 ANIMATED FIGURE (lraleah L. Bailey, 7211 NW. 32, Oklahoma City, Okla. Filed May 11, 1962, Ser. No. 194,126 14 Claims. (Cl. 46-149) The present invention relates to doll-like toys and more particularly to an animated figure.

This application is a continuation-in-part of an application, now abandoned, filed by me in the United States Patent Office on October 20, 1958, Serial No. 768,205, for Animated Figure.

The prior art reveals a number of dolls or figures formed of flat sheet material, but only a small number of these disclosures reveal a device capable of simulating a walking action. For the most part, those devices that imitate a walking action portray only the various positions of walking and do not perform the actual movement or function of the limbs thereof in such action. In those devices that simulate walking, the movement of the legs are directed to the right or to the left of the fiat surface of the figure being walked so that the figure remains fiat during the walking process wherein a person viewing the walking figure cannot View the flat forward or rearward surface of the figure and the lines or printing thereon depicting a certain character when the figure is advancing toward or directly away from the viewer. Similarly, figures constructed of flat sheet material, which imitate walking, have for the most part, been formed by the use of limbs connected to the body in a manner to pivot about the body on an axis perpendicular to the opposing flat surfaces thereof; such movement of limbs is accomplished by the use of strings or the like which results in additional construction expense and forms a device which is difiicult for small children to manipulate.

It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide a flat animated figure which will simulate a walking action by moving the limbs forward of the fiat surface of the material without the use of extraneous means such as strings and the like when manually tilted from side to side and moved forwardly.

Another object of this invention is to provide a walking figure whereby the body or torso may be leaned or pivoted forwardly and rearwardly on body supporting legs to simulate life-like movements of the body or torso during a walking action.

An additional object is to provide a device of this class which simulates a walking action wherein the rearwardly positioned leg supports the body as the body is manually moved forward.

A further object is to provide a device of this class and a means connected thereto which may be manually gripped to move the body of the figure forward and tilt the figure from one leg to another in a walking action.

Another object is to provide a device of this class which may be placed in a sitting position when not being walked.

An additional object is to provide a flat figure imitating a clown or the like which may be manipulated to simulate walking on its hands when in one position and Walking on its feet when in an opposing position.

Still another object is to provide a flat walking figure depicting an erect animal form wherein arm-like limbs extend forwardly of the figure which may be manually 3,691,892 QQ Patented June 4, 1963 grasped for leading and manipulating the figure in a walking action.

Yet another object is to provide a device of this class formed of flat resilient sheet material which is relatlvely simple in construction, easy to manipulate, and which may be packaged flat for shipping and handling, and which may be sold at a relatively low cost.

The present invention accomplishes these and other objects by providing the outline of a doll-like figure having the desired characteristics drawn or printed on its forward and rearward surfaces. A pair of legs depend from the body portion terminating in foot-like ends in laterally spaced-apart relation. There is formed in the surface of each leg a transverse depression or indentation generally at its juncture with the body, thus providmg a joint which permits supporting pivoting movement of the leg when a foot contacts a supporting surface and the body is manually moved forward. The joint permits the resilience of the material to return the respective leg forwardly to a position co-incident with the plane of the body when the foot-like end is released from contact with the supporting surface. Handle means is connected to the figure for manually moving the figure forward and tilting the figure from one leg to the other.

Other objects will be apparent from the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying single sheet of drawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the device in a walking position;

FIGURE 2 is a left side elevational view of the figure as seen in FIG. 1, and illustrating, in dotted lines, the relative position of the legs thereof during the walking act1on;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary perspective View of the handle means per se;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary rearward perspective view of the device illustrating an alternate manner of forming a handle means;

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of an animal form of the device, illustrating the use of animal fore legs as a handle means;

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary rearward perspective view of the manner of connecting the fore legs to the body of the device shown in FIG. 6;

FIGURE 8 is a front elevational view depicting a clown, or the like;

FIGURE 9 is an outline front elevational view, illustrating, by solid and dotted lines, the tilting movement of the device during the walking action; and,

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view illustrating an alternate manner of forming a leg connecting joint.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in those figures of the drawings in which they occur.

In the drawings:

Referring now more particularly to FIGS. 1 and 2 the reference numeral lit indicates, as a whole, the outline form of a doll-like figure formed of suitable flat sheet material having a body portion 12, a head 14, a pair of arms 16 and a pair of body supporting legs 18 and 19. The legs are preferably formed to depend from the body co-incident with the plane thereof and terminate in foot-like ends 20 in laterally spaced relation. The material used has opposing parallel surfaces and contains resilience or a tendency to retain or return to its flat plane when bent as hereinafter described. The outline shape of the doll is not critical and may be formed to depict various parts of clothing such as a skirt 21 or the like as Well as being formed to set forth the natural outlines of the figure where desired. One flat surface of the figure is selected as the forward surface and the features and clothing lines of a particular doll or character are drawn or printed thereon (FIGS. 1, 6 and 8). When the material forming the doll is relatively stiff the rearward surface of each leg 18 and 19 is transversely depressed or indented at its juncture with the body 12 as is indicated by the dotted lines 22. As is illustrated in FIG. 3 the depression 24 in the surface of the sheet material is characterized by a pair of parallel ridges 26 on opposing sides of the depression or indenture 24. Pressure used in scoring or forming the depression 24 may form a ridge 28 on the forward side of the material opposite the depression 24. Thus the depression 24 forms a body-supporting resilient joint 30 permitting rearward and forward body-supporting movement of each leg relative to the plane of the body 12 without collapse of the device during the walking action particularly when a leg is positioned rearward while the body is moved forward. The resilience of the joint 30 is such that each leg will return from its rearward pivoted position without the use of a string, or the like.

If heavy-weight thick material or metal, not adaptable for forming the joint 30, is used to form the doll 10, the legs are formed separately from the torso or severed therefrom along the line 22 (FIG. 1). The upper end of the leg 18A is connected to the torso by a short section of material 80 having a desired resilience adapted for forming the joint 30. The respective end portions of the section 80- overl-ap and are secured to the adjacent edge portions of the torso and leg 18A.

Handle means 62 such as a strip of the material from which the doll 10 has been formed is connected intermediate its ends to the rearward surface of the doll by a staple 34 or by gluing. One end of the handle means 32 has a notch 36 cut into one side thereof for cooperative engagement with a similar notch 38 formed in the opposing end portion of the handle means (FIG. 4). The end portion 40 preferably extends rearwardly of the doll 10 a substantial distance so that the handle may be manually grasped for manipulating the doll (FIG. 2). FIG- URE 2 illustrates the end portion 40 extending rearward substantially perpendicular to the rear surface of the doll. Obviously additional such notches 39 spaced along the handle end portion 40 will allow the latter to be adjusted to extend rearwardly and upwardly at a desired angle.

The doll 10 is actuated to imitate walking by manually grasping the handle means 32 (FIG. 2) and alternately tilting the doll laterally (FIG. 9) while moving it forwardly with the feet alternately contacting a supporting surface. For example, the doll may be placed on a rug or the like, not shown, and tilted toward its right side with the right foot resting on the rug and supporting the doll figure. Manually moving the doll forwardly pivots or bends the right leg 19 rearwardly of the plane of the body 12 by bending at the joint 30. The doll figure is then tilted toward its left so that the foot end of the left leg 18 contacts the rug and the foot end of the right leg is lifted off the rug. The resilience of the materia lt'rom which the doll is formed then returns or moves the right leg 19 forwardly to the plane co-incident with the plane of the body 12. The dotted line position of the doll illustrated in FIG. 2 shows this action. Manually tilting the doll back toward the right wherein the right foot end again contacts the rug while moving the doll forwardly pivots the left leg 18 at the joint 30 to a similar position rearwardly of the body 12 and as the left leg 18 is raised off the rug the latter is similarly 4 sprung or brought forward to the plane co-incident with the body completing the cycle. Thus, repetition of this cycle simulates a walking or running action depending on the rapidity of the movements made by the figure. Similarly manually manipulating the handle means 32 in tilting the body forwardly and rearwardly during the lateral tilting action increases the life-like attitudes of the doll during the walking action. The foot-like ends may be treated with adhesive or rubberized in order to prevent the feet from slipping when walking on a slick or glossy surface.

FIG. 5 illustrates an alternate embodiment of the handle means designated at 32A. This arrangement is intended for use where it might be desired to print the doll-like figure on a container for foods or the like and after the container is emptied the doll-like figure may be cut out along the outline thereof. The two strips or hands 42 and 44, formed by the spacing between the arms "16A and skirt 21A, are manually bent rearwardly of the figure at their juncture with the body 12A so that the co-operatively disposed free ends of the bands 42 and 44 may be manually gripped as a handle means for manipulating the doll as disclosed hereinabove.

An upright stance of an animal form such as a bear 50 is illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 wherein the rear legs 52 and 54 are each provided with a joint connecting them to the body 56 similar to the doll depicted in FIG. 1. The fore legs 58 and 60 of the bear are formed from one piece of material separately of the remainder of the bear in substantially a U-shaped form. The legs 58 and 60 are connected to the body of the bear by inserting the inwardly disposed edge of the joined legs into opposing notches 62 formed in the body of the bear at the shoulder position (FIG. 6). A pair of tabs 64 integral with the fore legs are fastened to the rearward surface of the bear form as by gluing (FIG. 7). Thus it may be seen that the fore legs 58 and 60 will project forwardly of the bear figure 50 and may be grasped manually for leading the bear forwardly to simulate a walking action.

FIGURE 8 depicts a clown outline and representation 70 having the arms 72 and legs 74 projecting longitudinally outward from opposing ends of the body portion 76 and joined thereto similar to the doll 10 so that the clown may be manually moved to imitate walking on the hands and when inverted may be Walked on the feet thereof. The facial features of the clown are designed so as to appear rightside up when walking on the hands and also when walking on the feet.

Obviously the invention is susceptible to some change or alteration without defeating its practicability, and I therefore do not wish to be con-fined to the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and described herein, further than I am limited by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

'1. An animated figure, including: an upright body formed of resilient flat sheet material having a pair of integral laterally spaced-apart body supporting limbs each terminating in a blunt end; and handle means on said body projecting outwardly in substantially perpendicular relation with respect to the plane of the latter for manually positioning said body in alternate laterally tilted positions with the respective blunt ends alternately contacting a supporting surface thereby alternately supporting the figure on one limb with the other limb raised off the supporting surface while progressively moving said figure forwardly, said limbs each having resiliency permitting alternate individual pivoting movement of each said limb forward or rearward when contacting a supporting surface and supporting said body wherein the resilience of each said limb is capable of returning its respective blunt end forwardly to a plane co-incident with said body when the respective blunt end is raised off the supporting surface.

2. Structure as specified in claim 1 and a coating of non-skid material covering the edges of said blunt ends for preventing the latter from slipping when contacting a slick supporting surface.

3. An animated figure, including:. a body formed of resilient fiat sheet material, said body having at least one pair of laterally spaced body supporting limbs each terminating in a blunt end; and handle means connected with said body for manually positioning said body in alternate laterally tilted positions while moving said body forward with the respective blunt ends alternately contacting a supporting surface thereby alternately supporting the figure on one blunt end with the other blunt end raised off the supporting surface, said limbs each having resiliency permitting alternate individual pivoting movement of each said blunt end forward or rearward of the plane of the body when contacting a supporting surface While supporting said body wherein the resilience of each said limb is capable of returning its respective blunt end to a plane co-incident with said body when the respective blunt end is raised off the supporting surface.

'4. Structure as specified in claim 3 in which said blunt ends are provided with a thin coating of adhesive to prevent said blunt ends f-rom slipping when contacting a polished supporting surface.

5. An animated figure, including: an upright body formed of flat relatively stiff sheet material having at least one integral pair of supporting limbs terminating in blunt ends in laterally spaced-apart relation; and handle means connected with said body and projecting outwardly thereof for manually positioning the body in alternate laterally tilted positions and moving the body forward with the respective blunt ends alternately contacting a supporting surface thereby supporting the figure on one blunt end with the other blunt end raised off the supporting surface while said body is moved forwardly, said limbs each having a depression formed in its surface forming a resilient joint, permitting forward and rearward body supporting pivoting movement of each limb relative to said body, said joints having resiliency capable of returning the respective limb to a position coincident with the plane of said body when the latter is tilted and the blunt end of the limb is released from contact with a supporting surface.

6. Structure as specified in claim 5 in which said blunt ends are coated with a non-skid material to prevent said blunt ends from slipping when contacting a supporting surface.

7. An animated figure, including: an upright body formed of flat relatively stiff sheet material having at least one integral pair of supporting limbs terminating in blunt ends in laterally spaced-apart relation; and elongated flat handle means connected with said body and projecting outwardly thereof in substantially perpendicular relation with respect to the plane of the latter for manually positioning the body in alternate laterally tilted positions and moving the body forward with the respective blunt ends alternately contacting a supporting surface thereby supporting the figure on one blunt end with the other blunt end raised oif the supporting surface while said body is moved forwardly, said limbs each having a transverse depression formed in its surface forming a re silient joint, permitting forward and rearward pivoting movement of each limb relative to said body, said joints having resiliency capable of returning the respective limb to a position co-incident with the plane of sad body when the latter is tilted and the blunt end of the limb is released from contact with a supporting surface.

8. An animated figure formed of flat rigid material, comprising: an upright torso having a pair of torso supporting legs each terminating in a foot-like end; means for connecting the upper ends of said legs to the depending end of said torso in laterally spaced relation, said means comprising resilient material extending between and secured to each respective said leg and said torso per- 6 nn'tting forward and rearward pivoting movement of said legs relative to the plane of said torso; and handle means connected with said torso for manually positioning said body in alternate laterally tilted positions with the respective foot-like ends alternately contacting a supporting surface in tor-so supporting relation permitting forward and rearward pivotitng movement of said torso with respect to the supporting leg when the other leg is raised off a supporting surface, said resilient material capable of returning each respective leg to a position co-incident with the plane of said torso when the foot-like end of the respective leg is released from contact with a supporting surface.

9. Structure as specified in claim 8 in which the end edge surface of each said foot-like end is covered with a rubberized coating to prevent slipping of each foot-like end during contact with a supporting surface as said torso is moved forwardly.

10. An animated figure, including: a body formed of relatively stiff cardboard material, or the like, having forward and rearward surfaces and having at least one pair of integral laterally spaced-apart body supporting limbs, each said leg terminating in a foot-like end; and handle means connected to the rearward surface of said body for manually positioning the body in alternate laterally t-ilted positions while moving said body forwardly with the respective foot-like ends alternately contacting a supporting surface and supporting the figure on one limb with the other limb raised off the supporting surface, said limbs each having -a relatively shallow transverse depression formed in its upper surface forming a joint, said joint containing resilience adapted for rearward pivoting body supporting movement of each limb relative to said body, and capable of returning the respective rearwardly pivoted limb to a position co-incident with the plane of said body when the body is tilted releasing the foot-like end of the rearwardly pivoted limb from its contact with a supporting surface.

11. An animated figure, including: an upright body formed of flat relatively stiff sheet material having forward and rearward surfaces and having a pair of integral laterally spaced-apart body supporting legs terminating in foot-like ends; and handle means adapted for manually positioning said body in alternate laterally tilted positions and moving the body forward with the respective footlike ends alternately contacting a supporting surface thereby supporting the figure on one leg with the other leg raised Off the supporting surface, said legs each having a shallow transverse depression formed in its surface forming a resilient body supporting joint adapted for alternate pivoting movement of each siad leg forward and rearward of the plane of said body, said joint having resiliency capable of returning the respective leg to a position co-incident with the plane of said body when the foot-like end of said leg is released from contact with a supporting surface.

12. Structure as specified in claim 11 and an adhesive coating covering the end edge of each said foot-like end to prevent said foot-like end surfaces from slipping when positioned rearward of the plane of the body on a supporting surface.

13. An animated figure, including: an upright torso formed of resilient cardboard or similar relatively stiff material having flat forward and rearward surfaces and having a pair of integral body supporting legs terminating in foot-like ends in laterally spaced-apart relation, said legs each having a relatively shallow transverse depression formed in its surface adjacent its juncture with said torso forming a joint containing resilience adapted for alternate forward and rearward pivoting torso supporting movement of said legs relative to said torso, said joints. being capable of returning the respective leg to a position co-incidcnt with the plane of said torso when the foot-like end of the leg is released from contact with a supporting surface; and handle means adapted for manually positioning said torso in alternate laterally tilted positions with the 8 respective foot-like ends alternately Contacting a support- References Cited in the file of this patent ing surface in torso supporting relation permitting pivoting movement of said torso on one leg with the other leg UNITED STATES PATENTS raised 011 the supporting surface. 1,774,785 Barnes Sept. 2, 1930 d4. Structure as specified in claim 13 in which each 5 i 2,544,124 Atwell Mar. 6, 1951 foot-Like end is provided with a rubberized coating to prevent said afoot-like ends from slipping during contact FOREIGN PATENTS with a supporting surface as said torso is moved for- 130179 Great Britain 22 1948 wardly. 

1. AN ANIMATED FIGURE, INCLUDING: AN UPRIGHT BODY FORMED OF RESILIENT FLAT SHEET MATERIAL HAVING A PAIR OF INTEGRAL LATERALLY SPACED-APART BODY SUPPORTING LIMBS EACH TERMINATING IN A BLUNT END; AND HANDLE MEANS ON SAID BODY PROJECTING OUTWARDLY IN SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR RELATION WITH RESPECT TO THE PLANE OF THE LATTER FOR MANUALLY POSITIONING SAID BODY IN ALTERNATE LATERALLY TILTED POSITIONS WITH THE RESPECTIVE BLUNT ENDS ALTERNATELY CONTACTING A SUPPORTING SURFACE THEREBY ALTERNATELY SUPPORTING THE FIGURE ON ONE LIMB WITH THE OTHER LIMB RAISED OFF THE SUPPORTING SURFACE WHILE PROGRESSIVELY MOVING SAID FIGURE FORWARDLY, SAID LIMBS EACH HAVING RESILIENCY PERMITTING ALTERNATE INDIVIDUAL PIVOTING MOVEMENT OF EACH SAID LIMB FORWARD OR REARWARD WHEN CONTACTING A SUPPORTING SUR FACE AND SUPPORTING SAID BODY WHEREIN THE RESILIENCE OF EACH SAID LIMB IS CAPABLE OF RETURNING ITS RESPECTIVE BLUNT END FORWARDLY TO A PLANE CO-INCIDENT WITH SAID BODY WHEN THE RESPECTIVE BLUNT END IS RAISED OFF THE SUPPORTING SURFACE. 